Abduction, Rape, and Murder of Women in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua, Mexico

Since 1993, several hundred women have been abducted and murdered in or near Ciudad Juárez and the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. In October 2002, in collaboration with Casa Amiga, a rape crisis center in Ciudad Juárez that has been in the forefront of the campaign against the abduction and murder of women in Juárez, The LAW Project of Equality Now submitted a request to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to take action in light of the failure of the Mexican government to respond effectively to this pattern of violence against women. In June 2003, the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, a member organization of The Campaign “Stop Impunity: No More Murders of Women,” joined Casa Amiga and Equality Now to reiterate the need for intervention by CEDAW.

Based on the information provided by Equality Now and our partners, the CEDAW Committee decided to undertake an inquiry, and in January 2005, the Committee released a report of its investigation as well as the Mexican government's response. In its report the Committee acknowledged the important contribution made by Equality Now and our partners to the inquiry.

In follow-up to the CEDAW Committee’s report, and coinciding with its 2006 review of Mexico’s implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Equality Now launched a Women’s Action campaign in August 2006 calling on the Mexican authorities to investigate and prosecute official negligence and obstruction in cases of femicide in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua.